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Virtual Call Center

August 29, 2012

NAB Embraces Virtual Call Center Platform for Extreme Cost Savings

By Allison Boccamazzo

Content Producer

The National Australia Bank (NAB) is looking to implement a full-scale virtual call center, where agents would work from home by the end of the year. This new consideration has been made possible thanks to the organization rolling out a new VoIP-based virtual contact center platform late last month.

NAB was able to replace 14 combinations of hardware and applications with a virtualized, Web-based platform for 38 contact centers nationwide, moving 3,200 agents – including customer service help and help desk staff – off of legacy PAB-X systems last month encompassed in a three-year, $30 million program of work.

NAB’s virtual call center platform was installed in its two Melbourne-based data centers, which ultimately ended up saving the bank $300,000 as compared to the alternative of running separate platforms.

According to NAB’s Head of Network Services, Graham Cronin, making the virtual move will eventually allow them to transform into a flexible, customer-centric, multimedia call center as opposed to having a traditional, “bricks and mortar” structure.

“He said NAB's contact centers were in an ‘old world’ prior to the virtual contact center rollout, citing capacity constraints, high real estate costs and ageing technology as reasons for change,” says this itnews article.

By enabling agents to work remotely from home, Cronin said that the platform reflects big changes made to Suncorp (News - Alert) – an Aussie-based provider of general insurance, banking, life insurance and wealth who earlier this year aimed to retain contact center employees by allowing them to work at home. The move also saved the company anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000 for each call center desk it could eliminate.

“We want to do it because it provides flexibility to our staff. What we’ve now got to work out is what’s the best way to deliver that to them, how’s the agent set up at home and all those sorts of things,” Cronin explains. “I’d like to do it between now and Christmas, but it’ll come down to how [the business] wants to drive that change.”

Things are clearly full speed ahead for this Australian bank, which is also hoping that adopting the virtual trend will shave 30 percent off its operational costs while simultaneously improving wait times and allowing it to enhance its roistering, writes itnews.

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